The Battle of the Somme Centenary Tour To mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme A screening of the original 1916 film with music by Laura Rossi performed by Bristol Symphony Orchestra 18 November 2016 Clifton Cathedral
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FORTHCOMING CONCERTS
Bristol Symphony Orchestra would like to thank Helen and Peter Wilde for their friendship, encouragement and generous financial support.
An Evening of Film Music Thursday 1st December 2016 St George’s Bristol Soloist: Roger Huckle, violin Conductor: William Goodchild Guest Leader: Sarah Ivanovich
Music of Russia Saturday 8th April 2017
St George’s Bristol
Soloist: Natalia Lomeiko, violin Conductor: William Goodchild Guest Leader: Aimee Cottam
Jazz on a Summer’s Night Saturday 24th June 2017
Clifton Cathedral
Soloist: Andy Sheppard, saxophone Conductor: William Goodchild Principal Leader: Pamela Bell For tickets and information please visit, www.bristolsymphonyorchestra.com 2
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WELCOME On behalf of Bristol Symphony Orchestra and Clifton Cathedral, we would like to welcome you to tonight’s screening and performance of the 1916 film, The Battle of the Somme. Bristol Symphony Orchestra was formed in January 2016 and tonight’s performance is our third concert. Welcome to Clifton Cathedral, a perfect venue for musical concerts. The Nave was designed to maximise the building’s natural acoustics, to create a compromise between the best possible acoustic qualities for both preaching and music. It relies on the natural acoustics and plywood tetrahedral panels in the ceiling for sound dispersion resulting in the most superb acoustic sound. The Cathedral has hosted a number of distinctive events throughout the four year commemorative period of the WW1 centenary. The Cathedral has been fortunate to receive two grants from the WW1 Centenary Cathedrals Fund; the first, evidenced by the extensive scaffolding both inside and out, has made a huge contribution to our roof repairs. The second grant will be drawn down in the New Year, when work will commence to improve the heating, the electrics and the lighting. We are very grateful for these substantial grants, and we are very excited to be collaborating with Bristol Symphony Orchestra to commemorate the end of the Battle of the Somme. On this night we remember all those who were caught up in the courageous but tragic events of the First World War, for all the service men and women who have died in the violence of war, each one remembered by and known to God. We pray for all who suffer as a result of conflict, and ask that God may bring peace to our world. Bristol Symphony Orchestra
Clifton Cathedral
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THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME
British soldiers eat hot rations in the Ancre Valley
A piper of the 7th Seaforth Highlanders leads four men of the 26th Brigade 4
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TONIGHT’S PROGRAMME
Address by Mrs Mary Prior Lord Lieutenant of Bristol The Banks of Green Willow Idyll for Small Orchestra by George Butterworth Readings by Norman Bowler with Pippa Craggs, flute I Stood with the Dead by Siegfried Sassoon Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen Anthem for Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owen The Soldier by Rupert Brooke
A few moments for silent reflection The Battle of the Somme with music composed by Laura Rossi performed by Bristol Symphony Orchestra conducted by William Goodchild
Please remember to switch off all digital devices during the concert this evening. Thank you. Lest we forget
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PROGRAMME NOTES
The Banks of Green Willow Idyll for Small Orchestra George Butterworth (1885 – 1916) The death of George Butterworth during the Battle of the Somme, at the age of 31, may be said to stand for the deaths of a multitude of musicians, artists and writers, sensitive, creative and by nature unwarlike, who perished in the monstrous four-year conflict. His memory has been held in great regard by English composers of succeeding generations, for example Gerald Finzi, whose Requiem da Camera remembers Butterworth among other musicians who perished. The Banks of Green Willow was written in 1913 and first performed early the following year. As well as the folk-song of the piece’s title, Butterworth also quotes from the song Green Bushes. The arch-shaped structure, with an agitated central section framed by calm and melodic outer ones, is similar to that which he uses in A Shropshire Lad’. But such technicalities are in a sense irrelevant: what we are hearing is the England which, by 1918, had ceased to exist. Programme note by Christopher Francis
George Butterworth with other Durham Light Infantry officers May 1915 6
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An Introduction to the Battle of the Somme Shot and screened in 1916, The Battle of the Somme was the first feature length documentary about war. In the first three months of its release, the film was seen by around twenty million people in Britain and Ireland – the UK population at the time was 43 million. The film was shot by two cameramen: Geoffrey Malins and J B McDowell. Malins was attached to the 29th Division and McDowell to the 7th Division. Filming took place between the 25th June and the 9th July 1916, covering the build-up and opening stages of the Battle of the Somme. The equipment used to film the Battle of the Somme consisted of large, handcranked cameras requiring a tripod for stability. The equipment was heavy and the cameras could only be loaded with a few hundred feet of film at a time. It was very difficult to film in poor light or at great distance. The structure of the film is simple: the first two reels cover the preparations for the infantry attack, the third reel covers the attack on the 1st July 1916 and the next two, the aftermath of the battle. The film was first privately shown to David Lloyd George on the 2nd August 1916 and the first major screening took place on the 10th August at the Scala Theatre, Soho, London. The Battle of the Somme continued to be distributed for at least five months afterwards. The Imperial War Museums took ownership of the film in 1920, and in 2002 they undertook digital restoration of the surviving elements. A new orchestral score was commissioned from Laura Rossi in 2005 and the film was listed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World register – one of the first films, and the first British document of any kind, to be listed. Programme note by Dr Toby Haggith
Reinforcements cross the old German front line during the advance towards Flers Lest we forget
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JOHN MCDOWELL AND GEOFFREY MALINS
Cinematographers: John McDowell and Geoffrey Malins
The Restoration of The Battle of the Somme Film As is common with important films from the past, in technical terms The Battle of the Somme was a victim of its own popularity. In this film’s case, the scale of the demand for prints when it was first released is evident in the fact that the original negative was already in a badly damaged state by the time Imperial War Museums took charge of it in 1920. This negative, alas, is no longer in existence having succumbed to cellulose nitrate decomposition many years ago. The current restoration has been based on the next best, a master copy made by IWM in 1931. Although this copy is complete, it faithfully captures all the scratches, breaks and blemishes which were present in the original; furthermore, due to the relatively primitive technology of the time, a conspicuous amount of detail had been lost in the printing process. Also very apparent are a number of shots of markedly poorer quality and softer focus where the original negative had been damaged and replaced by inferior duplicate sequences. 8
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RESTORATION OF THE ORIGINAL FILM Perhaps the most obvious problems to viewers of the unrestored The Battle of the Somme were the severe flickering (or exposure variation) of the image, and a complete lack of detail in backgrounds and long shots, to the point where, for the viewer, the action of the film seemed to take place almost entirely in the foreground. Making out anything in the distant shots required an uncomfortable degree of concentration which detracted from the experience of watching the film. Digital restoration, a technique in which the original film is scanned frame by frame so that the images can be manipulated by powerful computer software, offers the ability to extract from each frame information hitherto lost in the shadows and highlights, and to repair blemishes caused by scratches, dirt and damage. Dynamic defects, such as flickering, can also be minimised. However, the quality of the images in The Battle of the Somme presented technicians with major challenges, particularly in panoramic shots across the battlefield where details in different parts of the image would appear and disappear from frame to frame as the exposure varied. So severe were many of these problems that the restorers found that standard de-flickering and scratch removal software tools were unable to cope, and for much of the film they were obliged to work manually frame by frame, painstakingly adjusting the light levels in different parts of the frame and painting out major blemishes by hand. There are some 80,000 frames in The Battle of the Somme. The result, while inevitably still very much looking its age, is a startling improvement on anything seen since the film’s original release. At last it is possible to see that a line of marching men are not merely passing in front of the camera, but winding in a huge column into the distance, that shells dimly exploding in a fog are in fact landing across clearly defined enemy lines, and that in the two brief shots of the actual attack, men are actually cut down by enemy fire.
Courtesy of David Walsh Head of Preservation, Film and Video Archive Imperial War Museums Lest we forget
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ABOUT THE MUSIC
Laura Rossi Laura Rossi’s score was commissioned to mark the 90th anniversary of The Battle of the Somme as a soundtrack for the digitally restored film. The remastered film was screened for the 90th anniversary of the battle to a full house at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, with the premiere of Laura’s orchestral score performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra.
A British soldier dresses the wounds of a German prisoner near Bernafay Wood. 10
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CREDITS
1916 Film Credits
Sponsor: The War Office Production Company: British Topical Committee for War Films Producer: William F. Jury Cameramen: Geoffrey H. Malins and J. B. McDowell Editors: Charles Urban and Geoffrey H. Malins
Restoration Credits
Restoration by Dragon Digital Supervised by David Walsh, Imperial War Museums (IWM) with the generous assistance of Mike Eden, Matthew Lee and the Film Archive, IWM
The Battle of the Somme Centenary Tour
Somme100 FILM is an international project, working with IWM as part of the First World War Centenary Partnership to mark the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.We are aiming to bring together 100 live orchestral performances of the iconic 1916 film The Battle of the Somme with composer Laura Rossi’s acclaimed score, commissioned by the Imperial War Museums.
Somme100 FILM Team
Artistic Director: Laura Rossi Project Manager: Neill Quinton Producer: Melanie Crompton Education Consultant: Ellen Thomson PR Consultant: Jane Nicolson, Arts PR Arts Administration: Bright Ivy Tour Projectionist/ Film Technician: Mike Eden Web Design: Mike Outram Graphic Designer: Isobel Stuart We are grateful for the generous support of our partners and funders: The Eric Anker-Petersen Charity The Imperial War Museums Faber Music The Arts Council of England
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ABOUT Speaker: Norman Bowler Norman Bowler played Det. Chief Inspector Harry Hawkins for the entire run of the BBC TV police drama Softly, Softly. He also appeared as Titinius in Julius Caesar (1970), as Saturninus in Jesus of Nazareth (1977), as Bill Smugs in The Island of Adventure (1982), and as Moose in the Terence Hill film They Call Me Renegade (1987). He later played the part of Frank Tate in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale from November 1989 - May 1997. In August 2012 Norman released a recorded reading of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner to raise money for The Auroville Trust. Norman has been very active in charity work and adult education. He and his wife spent several years at Auroville International Township in Tamil Nadu, India. There he engaged in development work with people in the surrounding Tamil villages and often entertained the village children. He also worked with and directed the amateur actors of the township.
Conductor: William Goodchild William Goodchild is a professional composer, orchestrator and conductor. He composes music for film, television, concert performance and commercial installation. Specialising in wildlife and history documentary, he has scored well over 70 films including many that have won international awards. In 2016, he was nominated for Best Composer at the Royal Television Society West of England Awards, and Music Award at Wildscreen Festival 2016. On stage and in the recording studio, Will has collaborated with a wide variety of international soloists including guitarist John Williams and saxophonist Andy Sheppard. His passion for working across styles led to a live and recorded collaboration with Mercury Prize-Winner, Roni Size: the album, Live at Colston Hall, was released in 2015. Also at Colston Hall, with Sir David Attenborough presenting,William orchestrated and conducted the BBC’s Nature’s Great Events Live to a sell-out audience. The BBC’s Wild China series orchestrated and conducted by Will, won an Emmy. Many recordings conducted by Will are available to buy on Sony Classical, Universal Classical and Jazz, and CBS Records. He has worked with a number of professional orchestras including the BBC Concert Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Bristol Ensemble. Will is Conductor and Artistic Director of newly founded Bristol Symphony Orchestra.
Pre-Concert Speaker: Richard Hope-Hawkins West Country born writer and broadcaster Richard Hope-Hawkins has contributed to national and local newspapers, TV and radio. His weekly newspaper column Random Jottings gave him the opportunity to write about the actors and ‘real life’ characters he met during his interesting and diverse career. He specialises in numerous subjects including the WW1 Battle of Fromelles, a subsidiary to the Battle of the Somme, in which many soldiers from Bristol fought alongside the Australian army on 19th and 20th July 1916, including his great-uncle, 2nd Lieutenant George James Mitchell. 12
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The battle caused the greatest loss of Australian lives in living history – 5,553 – as well as those of 1,700 British soldiers. They fell due to a disastrous decision ordered by a number of generals including Field Marshal Douglas Haig. In 2008 a mass grave was discovered at Fromelles. With the use of DNA, 154 of the 250 disinterred soldiers have so far been identified. Richard spoke at the new Fromelles Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery Dedication Service in 2010 attended by HRH The Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke of Kent, numerous other dignitaries and over three thousand people, many of whom were relatives of the fallen soldiers. Richard visits Fromelles every year on the anniversary of the battle. He has been awarded the Bristol Lord Mayor’s Medal for his services to charity.
OUR NEXT CONCERT
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THE ORCHESTRA Violin 1 Lizzie Porteous - Guest Leader Nasser Ahmari Imogen Armstrong Monique Ayres Pamela Bell Lauren Bose Katherine Jillings Jo Phillips Lauren Phillips Maretha Van Der Walt Violin 2 Richard Hunt Aimee Cottam Sarah Ivanovich Minkee Kim Kenneth Price Josie Rampley Robert Tulloh Eloise Wyke Viola Anita Chute Jessica Bensted Alexia Granatt Oliver Kohll Becks Sankey Cello Catherine Warner Sophie Barford Ruth Bush May-Lin Coxson Will Marriage Jayne Taylor Sarah Vesty Rhiannon Wilkinson
Double Bass Ben Groenevelt Clare Daley Siriol Leach Rob Lillis Alex Pearson Harp Emily Mullins Piano Jean Hasse Flute Pippa Craggs Jane Lings Oboe Imogen Triner Olivia Diskin Clarinet and Bass Clarinet Anna Perry Sarah Edgeworth James Stallwood
French Horn Dave Ransom Luke Norland Alison Wilmhurst Kaitlyn Hamilton Trombone Matt Davies Vince Ford Lyn Harradine Tuba Simon Derrick Percussion and Timpani Christopher Fletcher-Campbell Josh Cottam Hannah Layhe Mike Organ
Bassoon Daisy Woods Georgina Pickworth Trumpet Martin Rogers Simon Bowles Christopher Rowe Programme design by Rachel Goodchild
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A THANK YOU FROM THE ORCHESTRA We would like to thank the following people who helped with this event. Clifton Cathedral Team Paul Hill Mary Manners Cath McCarthy Richard Jeffrey-Gray Somme Film Team Laura Rossi Neill Quinton Imperial War Museums Faber Music The Arts Council of England The Eric Anker-Petersen Charity
The Orchestra Management Team Pamela Bell William Goodchild Rob Tulloh Rachel Goodchild Aimee Cottam Erica Burnell Eloise Wyke Jane Krish Deb Marriage Tonight’s Speakers Richard Hope-Hawkins Norman Bowler
Our Players Who put in hours of practice, attend our rehearsals and help make the Orchestra what it is. Our Supporters Helen and Peter Wilde Photographer Rosa Fay Photography Programme Notes Christopher Francis
Men of the Border Regiment rest in shallow dugouts near Thiepval Wood Lest we forget
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Wounded British soldiers return from the front lines